We Are Here Living on Turtle Island April 13, 2013

This was the kind of day you dream about in rainy, chilly winter nights.  I spied a big river cooter on a log in the wetlands. He slipped gently back into the water. Another joined him and I watched them swimming below the surface.  It is said that the Great Spirit created earth by placing it on the back of a turtle.  Contemporary Native Americans sometimes call planet earth, "turtle island".  Symbolically, the turtle can manage difficult situations.  Many North American tribes have turtle clans.
The name, cooter, may come from an African language word, "kuta"which means turtle.

The Southern River Cooter is an edible freshwater turtle.

There is a story in one of Lillian Hellman's autobiographical books where she was living in a cottage in the country with a pond full of turtles.  She caught two to cook for supper, put them to simmer in a big pot on the stove in the kitchen and went to bed.  In the morning,  she rose  to find the pot tipped over, the turtles gone with only a turtle trail through the mud back to the pond.

Here is a recipe for Turtle Stew from the Baton Rouge "River Road Recipes" (71st printing of 1997):

3 lbs turtle meat                                    2 bell peppers, chopped fine
3 Tbsp oil or lard                                  1 cup sherry wine
3 Tbsp flour                                          6 boiled eggs
1 lb dry onions, chopped                      Red pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced                          Salt to taste
2 number 2 cans tomatoes                    4 bay leaves
1 can tomato paste                               8 whole cloves
boiling water                                        1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 rib celery, chopped fine                     1 Tbsp sugar
one bunch green onions chopped fine
1/4 lb butter
1 lemon, sliced

Parboil turtle meat. Make a brown roux of fat and flour. Add onions, garlic, tomato paste, and tomatoes. Cook slowly 20 to 30 minutes. Add to turtle meat. Add enough boiling salted water to cover meat. Boil down. Add celery, green onions, peppers, wine and seasoning. Cook covered over high heat for 30 minutes. Mash egg yolks; chop whites. Add to thicken stew. If stew gets too thick, add water. Cook slowly for about 3 hours. One half hour before serving add lemon slices and butter. To increase amount, add 1/2 pound turtle meat per person.  Serves 6.
Hoo Shoo Too Club, Baton Rouge, Louisiana